As a Coyote Stays on Track

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Coyote tracks along Dock Beach

It’s been a month of some single digit temperature’s – lowest dipping in a century. Snow has blanketed Fishers Island, but really only relatively lightly. The sense of heaviness though, that pull of hibernation when the dull grays of cloud, sand, and sea-smoke hover low; does await some sort of silver lining.

Wait though, a burst of light in a single second announcing daybreak south side off Isabella. Nature has a way of infusing even the slightest passion into drab. Winter’s darkness often leads me into starkness-subtle change in the environment becomes blunt.

As I jot observations of a marked increase clearly evident (to me) since 2012 of Slipper Snail shells on Chocomount and Big Club Beaches – I laugh to myself:

“Could the cause be winter doldrums?” I ask.

And like those light and unpredictable winds, thought and focus changes.

It’s getting late now, and dusk and a full lunar eclipse will try to overshadow.

Coyote’s path along Dock beach reminds me to keep a “one track mind”.

Nature’s wonders, even during the monotony of a winter still persist.

– Field Note by Justine Kibbe January 31, 2018